Cyprus registers record number of tourists in March

A surge in British, Russian, German and Israeli tourists helped Cyprus register best ever arrival figures for March, official data showed on Tuesday. 

The arrival of tourists to Cyprus in March increased 36.4% compared to the same month last year, indicating another bumper holiday season.

Tourist arrivals reached 192,090 in March compared to 140,873 in the same month of 2017, according to official data released Tuesday.

"It was the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during March," said the Cyprus statistical service.

For the first three months, January to March, arrivals of tourists totalled 369,438 compared to 285,693 in the corresponding period of 2017, recording an increase of 29.3%.

"This also outnumbers the total of arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during the first three months of the year," said Cystat.

Cyprus has benefited from a boom in visitors from Britain along with a revival in those coming from Germany, second largest market Russia and Israel.

Tourist arrivals from number one market the United Kingdom rose by 24.8% last month while there was a 13.7% increase in tourists from Russia.

There were also increases from other key tourist markets such as such as Germany (107.3%) and Israel (53.6%).

The UK constituted the largest source of tourism for Cyprus in March with a 35.5% share followed by Russia with 11.8%, Germany 9.8% and Israel 8%.

The eastern Mediterranean island has benefited from its reputation as a regional safe haven as unrest has hit the tourism sectors of its traditional competitors Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.

A record 3.65 million tourists enjoyed a Cyprus holiday last year, spending an unprecedented 2.6 billion euros.

And despite the US-led attack on nearby Syria last week the Cypriot tourism and hotel authorities said there have been no cancellations in bookings.

The tourism boom has helped Cyprus return to growth following a €10-billion (RM49 billion) bailout to rescue its crumbling economy and insolvent banks in March 2013.

Income from tourism now accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and is credited with underpinning a quick recovery.

A record 3.65 million tourists enjoyed a Cyprus holiday last year, spending an unprecedented 2.6 billion euros.